asperger's and accents

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I have a mix between a neutral and a southern accent, having lived in both Indiana and Texas. Although for some reason, a lot of people think I'm from Florida, which I've never even been to. Ironically, however, even with the slight southern accent, my mom says I still enunciate my words very well. But that could be because I went to speech school when I was little.

I can emulate accents around me - if I want to. But mostly I speak very clearly, deliberately, and pronounce every syllable. My daughter thinks I sound like Joan Cusack. She narrates that adorable show, "Peep and the Big Wide World" and is from Chicago - which is kind of the baseline for American accents.

I try very hard not to pick up on the Southern accent I hear every day - unless its in my best interest. Also, I had to go through voice coaching when I was in college to get rid of a valley girl accent.

So - to everyone I know - I probably sound a little like Mr. Rogers but with a much, much larger vocabulary and a much fouler mouth.

For me, when it comes to the southern accent, since it's slight, a *lot* of people around here think it's cute. For some reason, a lof of people in the area seem to have a fascination with all things Texas. But my accent is definitely more neutral than southern, which is just the way I like it. I can also emulate accents as well. Heck, when I was in the UK for two weeks, I came back with a British accent! Lucky for me, I lost it pretty quickly. lol

Texas is WAY cuter than a Georgia accent. Much rounder...not nasal. Plus Texans are so damned funny and "out there" - its just FUN listening to them talk.

Its funny - out of all the American accents - a hard core Indianan is the only one that stops me dead in my tracks. I used to work for a company based out of Indianapolis and I'll be damned if I had the hardest time understanding them on the phone.

The CEO would say things like "ken" for "can" or "pin" for "pen"...or something like that. Maybe you can do it better. Anywhere - there's a weird thing going on with with the I's and E's I think. David Letterman does it - but its nowhere as noticible as with the hardcore country Hoosiers.

Teyyyy-xas!



Don't meyyy-as with Teyyy-xas.

I have a mix of "no accent" and my local accent

When it comes to Hoosiers, they definitely say things different than most people. There's such a variety of accents in Indianapolis- accents from the north, like Chicago, and then accents from places like Kentucky. It's been said that this is the most southern-acting northern state there is and I'm not surprised. And yeah, I do hear a lot of people mixing up pen and pin. To me, there's definitely a difference. A lot of Hoosiers also say "warsh" instead of wash, and "warter" instead of water. I don't want warty water! Ew! lol

And lolz for Sandy. I know other Texans that live here, and back when we were all younger, we would actually get very mad about her. I remember one person was like, "Why don't you guys like her? She likes Texas!" And we were like "She's being a stereotypical Texan! We're not all like that!" lol Oh, the lengths we'll all go to to defend our home state. Every Texan is proud of Texas.

Another Edinburgh person in this thread.

I have the odd voice prosody thing too, and it does bear some relation to AS. It's only a minority of Aspies who have a distinct voice prosody, or have an accent different to where they are from, mind you.

It's often said Aspies can have a more formal voice register. No-one has ever said my accent is upper-class. If anything it has been described as "broad" and "country". Vocabulary wise, in my word usage and lexical choices, I would definitely seem formal though.

As for my different accent, 9 out of 10 people say they think it's an Inverness accent. Which is a city I have no connection with. But that seems to be the accent I have. Even Inverness people have said so.

Loborojo: I actually try not to use the term African-American to describe myself, for the same reasons that Whoopi Goldberg mentioned and other reasons. I was merely trying to relate how others perceived my accent and how they described it.

I don't believe in political correctness. Although, I do think everyone labels something/ someone whether consciously or not. I won't be hypocritical and say that I don't label things. I try not to immediately do so. And I try to be mindful of when, how, and why I apply labels. But labels can be useful sometimes. And I am aware that labels are to some degree always superficial, and do not fully describe anything, and exist for matters of convenience.

I thought I was the only one who noticed the difference between pen and pin. There is a difference.

Ya know - I have my doubts she's even from Texas. A little too shrill - more like L.A. (Lower Alabama). Dang poser!

I remember this one time I was playing golf right outside Dallas with a bunch of co-workers from around the country. We passed a house on the course with a super tall flag-pole with a giant Texas flag on it - waving proudly in the wind.

One of our co-workers - from New Jersey - asked why someone had a Puerto Rican flag flying in their yard. (In her cute, funny "Joisey" accent!) I thought the local guy in our foursome was going to kill her with his 5 iron. He was NOT amused. Kind of scary, actually - which is why I remember it all these years. He calmed down after the rest of gave her a merciless verbal beating. Fortunately, she had that famous NJ sense of humor and just kind of laughed about it and thought he was crazy.
Ah, fuggedaboutit!! !

But she definitely learned - you DON'T mess with Texas!

Yeah, I say Sandy could definitely pass for lower Alabama. I don't think I've ever heard such a thick Texas accent! I know where I grew up in Houston, the accents weren't as thick because I was from the city, but still...

As for the flag, that sounds like something I would definitely do! No one around here seems to care for the Indiana flags though.

I knew someone from New Jersey once. We always said "New Joisey" in front of her and she thought it was funny. She also said "and all that jazz" a ton, too.

I think when it comes to meeting people from other states, I'd say I get along with Tennesee people the most. For some reason, every person I've met from there has always been extremely nice to me. They also really enjoy talking about life in the south. Although between you and me, their accents would drive me crazy back when I was little.

I LOVE Houston and Houstonians. They are a very wiley bunch. People don't realize that but it has the highest per capita number of engineers in the US. Between NASA and the oil & gas industry - there are some smart "folks" there.

Yeah - and they sound nothing like Sandy. I dunno - maybe she's from Midland. I just had Spongebob on and she was saying "Aaah reckon" a lot - they don't say that in L.A.

Tennesseans are great, aren't they? Memphis, Nashville and Knoxville all have their own idiosynchrasies. The "edjucated ones" in Nashville actually have very nice accents. (Like the Vandy crowd).

Don't care for country music, though - but its not all country. Jack White and Sheryl Crow moved there.

OMG! New Jersey people have the best sense of humor about their state of anyone! And actually, I've been there and its definitely NOT the crappiest state in the union! Its actually quite pretty!

Houston definitely is an awesome place. Whenever I go back to visit, I always have a ton of fun. And then everyone there absolutely loves hearing about life in the midwest, especially the snow! People are really friendly and I'm really glad I was born there. Makes me proud.

Oh yeah, she does say that a lot, come to think of it. I'm beat on when it comes to exactly where she's from. There's so many different dialects down there, it's hard to say!

There's a couple of Tennessee families in my neighborhood and they're very nice. Come to think of it, nearly every state has moved into my neighborhood. There's a ton of Californians out here especially. And I know my neighbors come from Ohio. I only know of a few families that were actually *born* in this state! lol

Oh, me neither! There's very, very, very few country songs I like. I mainly listen to rock and stuff.

I've been to New Jersey a few of times. Once when I was four and twice when I was twelve. But that was only to fly to Europe and back. When it comes to people from states I know of, I'd say Virginians probably have the best sense of humor. My boyfriend and his family all live there and they actually think it's hilarious that I'll call it Virgin-yah. lol Guess they've already heard it all before. We all also get a kick out of making fun of Idaho and tourists hailing from Minnesota. Canada *always* gets made fun of the most. But it's all in good fun.

People ask me this question all the time and most of them say that i sound like an sports commentator.

That's awesome. Like Marv Albert? He's a super freak but I have similar pronunciation and timing to his.

I also like Al Michaels - but not because of his voice - but because he has excellent grammar and tempo. Plus he's a San Franciscan - so I don't notice an accent - which makes me listen - since I'm not trying to figure it out. (But I think he's from New Jersey.)

I never thought about Virginia like that. My family lives in Northern Virginia/DC area. The schools ARE excellent so maybe that explains the sense of humor. But come to think of it, some of the most warped people I know are from the area. VERY dry sense of humor but very wicked. Some of them can make me laugh without even talking. Like a funny expression or rolling their eyes or cocking an eyebrow. So - you're right! They are some of the funniest people in the country. (I think I'll lump parts of Maryland into that opinion. They're pretty hardcore, too.)

They just don't get a lot of credit because they end up in totally serious work - like working for the FBI or the Pentagon. A few made it into big time comedy but not a lot. I know Lewis Black, Dave Chappelle and Stephen Colbert spent their "formidable" years there.

Canadians are a hoot to tease - because they can totally hold their own. I never met a Canadian who didn't have some degree of tourettes. (ha ha.) Seriously, they are out-spoken and use humor to get what they want. Most them are very independent in spirit and attitude and they all have their own way of looking at the world. Some are super conservative and some are crazy liberal. They are also completely fearless.

Having said that - Canadians can also piss me off to the point of serious arguing. But they can take it and dish out and so can I...so it works out. I don't think passive-aggressive is a familiar M.O. in Canada.

Minnesota! Oh, ya! You betcha!



Enough said.